Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Des Browne) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have made clear my determination to ensure that the Armed Forces on operations have the resources that they need to do the job. I said that I would update the House on developments in two particular areas of operational capability: additional options for armoured vehicles and helicopter support for Afghanistan.
	As I told the House on 26 June, I ordered an urgent review of our armoured vehicle fleet, particularly focused on the evolving threat in Iraq, but covering the whole operational picture, including Afghanistan, to ensure that we were providing commanders with the best options.
	That review has now concluded. It has confirmed that there is a growing requirement for a protected vehicle with capabilities between our heavy armour, such as Warrior, and lighter patrol vehicles, such as Snatch. The review has also identified feasible options to address the gap in the short term. We have now completed a very rapid assessment of those options and have identified three complementary ways forward. Two of these build on and accelerate work that is already ongoing in the department. The third is new. The necessary funding will come in part from acceleration of existing funding within the defence budget and in part from substantial new funding from the Treasury.
	The first element is an additional buy of around 100 Vector, our new Pinzgauer-based protected patrol vehicle, for Afghanistan, on top of the 62 already on contract. Vector provides good protection and, importantly, increased mobility and capacity compared with Snatch, which makes it very suitable for the rugged terrain and long patrol distances in Afghanistan.
	The second element is to provide around 70 additional up-armoured and upgraded FV430 to equip a mechanised infantry battlegroup for Iraq by the spring of 2007, again on top of the 54 that we have already ordered. The FV430 will be delivered incrementally, with the first vehicles currently expected to be delivered this autumn. Significantly smaller and lighter than Warrior, the up-armoured FV430 will provide a similar level of protection while being less intimidating and having less impact on local infrastructure, thereby providing commanders with an important additional option. Since it is able to carry out many of the same tasks as Warrior, it will also relieve pressure on heavily committed Warrior vehicles and armoured infantry battlegroups.
	The third, new element is the Cougar, manufactured by Force Protection Incorporated of Charleston, South Carolina. We judge that this vehicle meets our requirement for a well protected, wheeled patrol vehicle with a less intimidating profile than tracked vehicles such as Warrior or FV430. We are arranging to rapidly procure around 100 vehicles through US military sources. We have received excellent co-operation from the US Government, military and industry—an example of the special relationship bringing real benefits for our soldiers on the ground. Once we take possession of the vehicles, we must then customise them with Bowman radios and electronic countermeasures, and then fit additional armour beyond the standard level, to ensure that they have the best possible protection. This procurement and enhancement process takes time. But we expect to be able to deliver the vehicles, in batches, with an effective capability in place before the end of the year and continuing through the next six-month rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
	These three vehicles will complement existing Warrior and Snatch. Warrior will continue to provide the capability to deal with the most demanding threats, but its profile and weight make is unsuitable for some operations and situations, such as Afghanistan. Snatch, with a much less intimidating profile, enables troops to interact with locals and promotes a sense of normality, and it will remain a key tool for building and maintaining consent. The up-armoured FV430, the Cougar medium PPV and Vector fill the requirements for varying degrees of protection, mobility and profile between these two extremes. But I am confident that together these vehicles provide commanders with the right range of options to deal with the situations and threats that they face.
	In my Afghanistan Statement on 10 July 2006 (Official Report, cols. 1131-35), I detailed the additional forces that we shall deploy to southern Afghanistan. I also undertook to provide further details of the enhancement of the support helicopter force deployed as part of the Helmand task force once I had received definitive advice on the needs of our commanders on the ground. I have now had that advice, as endorsed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, and I have directed that those needs be met in full. I have therefore directed that two extra CH-47 Chinook be deployed, the first in early September 2006 and the second in October. Helicopter force levels will remain under constant review.
	I also wish to update the House on the units assigned to provide additional forces for Afghanistan. Force protection for 28 Regiment, Royal Engineers will be provided by W Company, 45 Commando, Royal Marines—not a composite unit as has been suggested. Finally, I erroneously referred in my earlier Statement to 12 Signal Regiment. The unit listed should have been 14 Signal Regiment.

Baroness Andrews: My right honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Careless handling of smokers' materials continues to be one of the major causes of UK accidental fire deaths in the home. Evidence has shown that reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes decrease the risk of inducing ignition or progressive smouldering in materials, therefore reducing the number of accidental fire deaths in the home.
	RIP cigarettes have been legislated for in New York State, California, Vermont, Illinois, New Hampshire and Massachusetts and are all now in place, as well as in Canada. The legislation requires that all cigarettes conform to American Society for Testing and Materials Standards (ASTM International).
	At the request of the UK, supported by Sweden, the European Commission undertook to look into the case for developing an appropriate technical standard for RIP cigarettes. The Department for Communities and Local Government will be working very closely with the Department of Health, which has led government work on tobacco regulation, and the Department of Trade and Industry, which leads on consumer product safety. It is expected that further discussion on the case for developing a European technical standard for RIP cigarettes will take place at the next general product committee meeting in Brussels this September.

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I am pleased to announce the severance package for the estimated 1,500 MoD civilians in Northern Ireland being made redundant during the period 1 August 2006 to 31 December 2008 as a result of the process of normalisation.
	The House will recall that, when I announced the package for the Royal Irish (Home Service) (R IRISH (HS)) on 9 March 2006 (Official Report, col. 961), I explained that a process of consultation would take place with the trades unions on the civilian redundancies in accordance with our duties under Section 188 of the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. That consultation has now been concluded and the redundancy package has been decided.
	First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the dedication and commitment shown by MoD civilians in Northern Ireland over many years in supporting the Armed Forces and in helping to bring about the enabling environment for the current security normalisation programme. While normalisation is good news for Northern Ireland, it also brings substantial change for our civilian workforce, and my department has been working hard to draw up an enhanced redundancy package for those affected. I am now in a position to provide details of that package.
	In addition to the normal occupational redundancy package (which, for the majority, will be compulsory terms under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS)), affected staff will receive a flat-rate financial recognition award (FRA) payment of £14,000 gross. The payment is being made to MoD civilians based in Northern Ireland in recognition of a unique set of circumstances, which are a combination of the following factors:
	the pressures and restrictions arising from their association with the Armed Forces in Northern Ireland, which they experienced while working for the MoD and are likely to continue to affect them in the immediate aftermath of being made redundant;the difficulties that they may experience as a result of normalisation and directly arising from their former association with the Armed Forces in Northern Ireland; andthe effect of those pressures being exacerbated by the fact that the whole of the R IRISH (HS) is being disbanded, affecting over 3,000 individuals and nearly 50 per cent of the civilian workforce are losing their jobs over a compressed timescale.
	In summary, during the period 1 August 2006 to 31 December 2008, MoD civil servants made redundant through the process of normalisation will receive:
	redundancy compensation under the terms of their occupational redundancy scheme;access to the MoD outplacement service for a period of 12 months (an increase over the normal six months);a retraining allowance of up to £1,000 per person, anda flat-rate additional payment of £14,000 gross.
	The package, which goes significantly beyond statutory entitlements, is well deserved and we hope will be well received by MoD civilians in Northern Ireland. To put this into context, typically an individual who is aged 50 or over and made redundant between 1 August 2006 and 31 December 2008 will receive the immediate payment of an enhanced pension (and a tax-free pension lump sum for those in the 1972 section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS)), redundancy compensation of up to six months' pensionable pay and the FRA of £14,000.
	To give examples, a 51 year-old band C with an average salary of £26,167 and 31 years' service will receive a lump sum payment of £27,084 (this is the redundancy compensation and the FRA); in addition, they will receive their pension lump sum of approximately £30,419 and an annual pension. A 54 year-old band E/skill zone 3 with an average salary of £17,975 and 34 years' service will receive a lump sum payment of £22,987 (this is the redundancy compensation and the FRA); in addition, they will receive their pension lump sum of approximately £25,136 and an annual pension. Those staff under the age of 50 and made redundant in the same period will typically receive a preserved pension payable at age 60, redundancy compensation up to three times their annual pensionable pay and the FRA of £14,000. To illustrate, a 34 year-old band E/skill zone 3 with an average salary of £17,975 and 16 years' service will receive a lump sum payment of £43,958; and a 27 year-old band D/skill zone 4 with an average salary of £20,617 and nine years' service will receive a lump sum payment of £29,463. These lump sums are the combined totals of redundancy compensation and the FRA. Redundancy compensation and the FRA combined will be tax free up to the first £30,000 in accordance with the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
	This is a generous package for a unique set of circumstances for those MoD civilians in Northern Ireland made redundant between 1 August 2006 and 31 December 2008.

Passport Fees

Lord Goldsmith: I have today placed in the Library of the House copies of the first annual report of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland and of its business plan for the coming year.
	While the new service was formally launched in June 2005, it initially took work only from the six police districts that make up the PPS Belfast region. It has, however, been planned from the start as a regional service and the last year has seen good progress in rolling out the service over the whole of Northern Ireland.
	In August 2005, the PPS western and southern region assumed responsibility for the conduct of all youth offences occurring in the PSNI's Armagh, Banbridge and Newry and Mourne districts, as well as all prosecutions from the five police districts within Fermanagh and Tyrone. A new Lisburn office, serving as headquarters of the PPS eastern region, opened in March 2006 and will be fully operational by October of this year, when it will add a further six police districts to those already within the PPS structure.
	The rollout of the PPS will continue through this year and next, and when completed will operate from six regional offices planned for Belfast, Lisburn, Newry, Omagh, Londonderry and Ballymena. This regional approach, with each office having its own regional prosecutor, will encourage local involvement with the service, helping the community to understand its work and how it goes about reaching decisions, and thereby building public confidence in the criminal justice system. The annual report and business plan is part of this process and will be of interest to anyone with an interest in the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland or in criminal justice generally.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Industry and the Regions (Margaret Hodge) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have today laid before Parliament the annual reports and accounts for 2005-06 for the eight regional development agencies (RDAs) outside London. Copies have been placed in the House Library.
	The annual report and accounts for London are presented to the Lord Mayor rather than before Parliament. I shall provide a copy to the House of Commons Library when these are available.
	The Government welcome the contribution that the RDAs have made during this year to driving forward economic development in their respective regions.
	Also published today are the RDAs' reported outputs for 2005-06. These results are evidence that the RDAs continue to play a valuable role in improving the economic performance of the English regions; through working with their partners, the RDAs are making a real difference to the individual regional economies concerned. The figures cover the creation and safeguarding of jobs, the number of people helped to get a job, the amount of brownfield land brought back into use, the number of businesses added to the regional economies, the number of businesses helped to improve their performance, the number of learning opportunities created and the amount of private sector investment attracted benefiting deprived areas, all as a result of RDA activity.
	Press releases on the outputs have been issued in each region. Copies of the output results have been placed in the House Library, and are also available on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/regional/regional-dev-agencies/index.html.

Lord Triesman: The 2005 annual report on strategic export controls will be published today as a Command Paper. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House. The report describes UK policy and international developments in export control regimes, as well as information on export licensing decisions taken during 2005.
	The annual report on strategic export controls is an innovation of this Government. This report, the ninth annual report (the first report was published in 1997), is a step away from the traditional reports of the past. Our export licensing system is one of the most rigorous and transparent regimes in the world and the annual report, in this new format, symbolises our continued commitment to accountability and transparency by presenting detailed information in a more modern and user-friendly format. This year, due to the increasing volume of information on strategic exports that is being published by the Government, all the statistical data that were historically published only in hard copy are now made available on a CD-ROM which accompanies the report. Since 2004, the Government have also produced detailed quarterly reports available on the internet, ensuring that the UK provides some of the most open and timely export licensing information available anywhere. The new CD-ROM includes the quarterly reports for 2005, as well as more consolidated data, information on licence refusals and fuller information on trade control (trafficking and brokering) licences issued during 2005. The complete report will be available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website and also published through The Stationery Office.

Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Douglas Alexander) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	In my Written Ministerial Statement of Tuesday 18 July 2006 (Official Report, col. 87WS), the department published new targets for journey times in urban areas. The target included for Merseyside unfortunately used an interim version of Merseyside's target, rather than the final target that was adopted. Incorporating the final target has a small beneficial effect on the national journey time target, lowering it by just 0.03 per cent.
	The revised success criteria is therefore as follows: the target will be deemed to have been met if, on target routes in the 10 largest urban areas in England, an average increase in travel of 4.4 per cent is accommodated within an increase of 3.6 per cent in person journey time per mile.
	An updated PSA and technical note has been placed on the departmental website today. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

Lord Davies of Oldham: My honourable friend the Minister of State for Transport (Stephen Ladyman) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	I am today announcing 14 major new measures to ensure that the release of data from the UK vehicle registers is undertaken in a way that:
	protects vehicle keepers from misuse of their information;ensures that those who have reasonable cause can get the data they need;balances the right to privacy of individuals whose data are held on the register with the need of others to gain proper redress;is cost-effective, in that the costs to all are proportionate to the benefits that the scheme delivers; andis right in principle and works in practice.
	This follows the review that I announced in December last year and the public consultation launched in February this year. I will give a full update on progress in delivering these new measures in the autumn. I will continue to scrutinise closely the way in which the scheme operates and how it is used. Should further action be merited, I will ensure that it is taken quickly.
	The new measures are as follows.
	New requirements for evidence of "reasonable cause"
	New detailed guidance on what is likely to constitute "reasonable cause".
	Clarity that behaviour in using data will be considered in judging whether a particular applicant's assertions as to the "reasonable cause" for his application are to be believed, and in deciding whether approved conditional access is granted or maintained.
	For all applications where "reasonable cause" relates to a vehicle left on land without permission or in breach of terms and conditions, evidence is required that the applicant is the landowner or has the permission of the landowner to pursue the vehicle keeper.
	For all applications where "reasonable cause" relates to the pursuit of a penalty charge, evidence is required that a penalty scheme was indeed in place on that piece of land (eg that there was signage).
	New requirements for "approved conditional access"
	Those bodies and companies seeking approved conditional access that do not have an appropriate regulatory body are required to be current members of an "accredited" trade association. Part of the process for "accrediting" trade associations will include ensuring that there is a clear and enforced code of conduct (for example, relating to conduct, parking charge signage, charge levels, appeals procedure, approval of ticket wording, and appropriate pursuit of penalties, eg approach by letter only and county court action only to permit a house call).
	Organisations that do not comply with the terms of the accredited trade association will be expelled and without valid membership of another accredited trade association will lose their approved conditional access. Trade associations that do not police the conditions of membership adequately will lose their accreditation.
	All those seeking approved conditional access will be required to serve a "probationary" period of six months or, if longer, for the period of time that it takes to make 20 requests—during which all requests should be made on a case-by-case basis.
	New measures to ensure awareness of the vehicle keeper
	That all those who receive data, as evidence of their "reasonable behaviour" and as a condition of "approved conditional access", include in any correspondence with the keeper a leaflet or statement advising them of:
	the "reasonable cause" which formed the basis of the request;the "complaints" procedure by which a data subject can notify both DVLA and the Information Commissioner if they believe that their data have been used inappropriately; andthe appeals procedure (for the regulatory body) if they feel that, for example, a parking charge notice has been issued incorrectly.
	And that this information is also placed on the DVLA website.
	That DVLA maintain on its website a list of organisations and companies that have requested data and the reasons for their request.
	That a reference to the location on the DVLA website of guidance and advice and all other information relating to the release of vehicle keeper data is included on all DVLA documentation sent to the vehicle keeper, including the annual VED reminder.
	New auditing procedures and action to combat misuse or complaints
	A rolling three-year programme of audit check, including targeted checks on those where concerns have been raised.
	A clear set of procedures where such concerns are raised:
	an audit is triggered by complaints of substance representing a disproportionate level of granted requests or any complaint of a serious nature;if, following implementation of the audit recommendations, a disproportionate level of complaints of substance is received, an organisation with approved conditional access will be required to submit requests on a case-by-case basis; if it is already subject to request on a case-by-case basis, it will be subject to additional scrutiny of each request that it makes; andif a disproportionate level of further complaints of substance is received and a company is found to be consistently using data inappropriately or a serious complaint of abuse of the system by an applicant is substantiated, then there is a distinct possibility that we will not believe the applicant to have reasonable cause on a future request and, if so, data release would then be declined in that case.
	New complaints procedures
	A clear procedure by which data subjects can notify DVLA if they feel that their data have been used inappropriately; steps must be taken to draw this to the attention of vehicle keepers by including information in paperwork sent to them and on the DVLA website. This will include information of how they can notify the Information Commissioner of the misuse of their data.
	Complaints received will form part of the evaluation of whether an applicant's assertion of "reasonable cause" is valid.

Baroness Andrews: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Members will be interested to know that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will be jointly consulting on ways of making water efficiency mandatory, during the Recess. The scope of the consultation will cover water efficiency in new homes, in existing buildings and in respect of the domestic uses of non-household buildings. We are considering a range of measures, including amendments to the Building Regulations 2000. There will be a slightly longer consultation than normal—four months rather than three—as we recognised the difficulty of consulting during a holiday period.
	Copies of the consultation document will be available later in the year on both the DCLG and Defra websites and in the Libraries of both Houses. I will be writing separately to Peter Ainsworth, chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, Michael Jack, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, and Dr Phyllis Starkey, chairman of the Communities and Local Government Committee.